Unlocking Student Engagement:
Strategies for 100% Participation
Workshop objectives
By the end of this workshop, you will be able to:
• Differentiate between a low engagement and high engagement strategy
• Describe at least three ways to increase student engagement
• Explain what is meant by a student-centred classroom
Warm up!
???
There are three types of student engagement:
Behavioral -- Students behave and don’t act out. They bring everything they
need during class, follow instructions, work carefully and participate in class
discussion.
Emotional -- Students feel like they’re a part of the school community and are
happy to be there! They greet you with a smile, interact positively with their
classmates and look alert during your lessons.
Cognitive -- Also known as intellectual engagement, students are eager to learn
and think deeply about the subject matter. They ask challenging questions, and
often go above and beyond when completing assignments.
In pairs, discuss instances where you have seen students not engaged. Which of
the three types was the problem? How do you know?
Teacher Centered Classrooms: traditional
methods
● Teacher is the main (or sole)
source of information;
● Students look to the teacher for
most decisions;
● Class’s attention is on the
teacher, rather than other
students;
● The teacher talks more than the
students;
● Rules are teacher-created.
Student Centered Classrooms: the difference
● Students are respected sources
of information;
● Students make decisions with
guidance;
● Class’s attention is on the
students, rather than the teacher;
● The students talk more than the
teacher;
● Rules are co-created.
Group work
In your groups, you are going to look at one sign of a student-centred
classroom.
Discuss how you have seen this at your school (or haven’t seen it!), why is it
important, and be ready to explain it to us.
Six signs of a student centered classroom
1. Student agency 2. Differentiation
Also referred to as ‘student voice’, time and Adjustments are made to accomodate
space is provided for students to decide learners’ individual needs.
how to proceed with class activities.
● Content: what students learn
Students have ‘buy-in’ or ownership of what ● Process: how they learn
happens in the class, increasing levels of ● Product: how we measure the learning
engagement. ● Environment: where students learn
Six signs of a student centered classroom
3. Explicit, co-created goals 4. Blend of individual, team and group work
Leadership opportunities are extended to Students have opportunities to work with
students and they participate in goal setting for different combinations of learners, with
the course/lesson/project. different learning styles, knowledge and
competencies.
Students take charge of projects and activities,
the teacher trains them to become decision The whole becomes more than the sum of
makers. its’ parts.
Goals are openly shared, discussed, monitored,
and assessed.
Six signs of a student centered classroom
5. Low TTT, high STT 6. Celebration of learner diversity
Student ideas, stories, wonderings are Students are heard, seen, valued and
front-and-center, and students are respected for the different ways they think,
confident communicators who do not fear lead, and create.
making mistakes.
Culture, competencies, personal interests
Teachers facilitate class discussions with and ambitions are visible and present
open-ended questions and activities throughout the learning environment. The
designed to elicit rather than explain. class belongs to the students working
within it.
Six signs of a student centered classroom
1. Student agency
2. Differentiation
3. Explicit, co-created goals
4. Blend of individual, team and group work
5. Low TTT, high STT
6. Celebration of learner diversity
How would you make this scenario student centered?
Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Scenario 3
An English teacher tells the A math teacher arranges the An art teacher tells the class they
student seating in rows and informs will learn about pointillism
students that they must read three
the students of their seating (drawing or painting with many
pages of a text that the teacher has assignment. The teacher gives a little dots). The teacher
chosen. They must read it silently lecture on how to calculate the area demonstrates the technique by
over the course of the lesson, then of a piece of land, writing equations drawing a vase, and the students
each must answer the same and drawing diagrams on the board.
are required to watch in silence.
multiple choice quiz. The teacher The teacher writes the answers as
The teacher asks, ‘Do you
asks, ‘Do you have any questions?’, they go, asking the students, ‘Are
understand?’, the students say
you paying attention?’ The students
the students say no, and they work yes and they are instructed to
say yes, and the teacher gives out a
in silence for the remainder of the worksheet with 5 similar problems copy what the teacher has done.
lesson. The teacher scores the quiz and gives the students 15 minutes At the end of the class, they turn
and announces the results in the to complete it. The students swap in their pictures and receive a
following lesson. papers and the teacher tells them score based on the art teacher’s
the answers. opinion of their work.
The Study: Teachers’ roles and identities in student-centered
classrooms
The research questions that guided this study were:
● How do teachers think about themselves as they implement student-centered
instruction?
● What rewards and challenges do teachers experience as their roles and identities
shift in student-centered classrooms?
[Link]
Keiler, L.S. Teachers’ roles and identities in student-centered classrooms. IJ STEM Ed 5, 34 (2018).
[Link]
The Study: RESULTS
● All participating teachers described multiple benefits of teaching in a student-centered
classroom and differences from traditional classrooms.
● Teachers became ‘content resources’ rather than ‘content dispensers’.
● Teachers were able to let go of roles they disliked, such as ‘disciplinarian’, ‘time-keeper’,
‘human encyclopedia.’
● All participants reported increased job satisfaction as the ‘mental load’ of class preparation
and planning was shared with the students.
● 90% reported that the program helped them become the teacher they always wanted to be.
[Link]
Keiler, L.S. Teachers’ roles and identities in student-centered classrooms. IJ STEM Ed 5, 34 (2018).
[Link]
Group work
In your group, you are going to look at lesson
content and decide which student engagement
strategies to use with it.
Reflection
• What did you learn in this workshop?
• What surprised you?
• What would you like to learn more about?
• How will you apply this in your classroom?
• Is there anything you would like me to know?
Thank you!
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